Hmmm ... interesting situation ... but then again, you gotta admit, the rich getting away with raping a poor person's daughter is a very common idea among authors. So, you can't really say that he ripped The Godfather off just because of that.

Originally posted by Jaded WenEr Hmmm ... interesting situation ... but then again, you gotta admit, the rich getting away with raping a poor person's daughter is a very common idea among authors. So, you can't really say that he ripped The Godfather off just because of that.

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Not only the example about the rape but also the 2nd example about the baker, I think that scene was copied by GL.

The type of people that Sun Jian hated the most was those who did not do things straightforwardly. He himself never did anything sloppily. No matter what he did, he always used the most direct methods.
LaoBo wanted him to find Mao Wei – so he went and found Mao Wei. He went directly to Mao Wei’s doorstep right after leaving his house.
He always took the same route. He did not beat around the bushes, nor did he turn back.
Mao Wei was just sitting in the great hall drinking wine with his adviser and his goons, when the doorman brought him a name tag – two huge characters were written on a plain, white piece of paper: Sun Jian.

Mao Wei frowned and asked, “Which one of you have heard of this man’s name?”

His adviser was not an ignorant or ill-informed person. He immediately answered, “I think it’s Sun YuBo’s son.”

Mao Wei frowned even more, “Sun YuBo? Is that the one they call LaoBo?”

The adviser replied, “Yes. He likes others to call him LaoBo.”

Mao Wei asked, “What does his son want with me?”

The adviser said thoughtfully, “I heard that LaoBo really likes to make friends. He probably wants to be friends with you, master.”

In reality, he knew that there was another reason behind this; it was just that he always picked to say what Mao Wei liked to hear.

Mao Wei smiled, “If it’s so, then invite him to come in.”

Sun Jian did not need others to invite him. He had already walked inside – he did not like to wait on someone’s doorstep.
No one could stop him, those who wanted to were already lying on the ground, unable to get up.
Mao Wei quickly stood up and glared at him.
Sun Jian did not run nor jump of fright, but walked right up to him in just a few steps. No one could describe the strength and speed of his actions.

Even Mao Wei was secretly surprised, he asked, “Is Your name Sun?”

Sun Jian nodded, “You’re Mao Wei?”

Mao Wei also nodded, “What is Your business?”

Sun Jian replied, “To ask you a question.”

Mao Wei first glanced at his adviser and goons, and then asked, “Ask me what?”

Sun Jian said, “Do you know Fang YouPing’s wife? Do you have some dirty affairs with her?”

Mao Wei’s expressions changed. The second his expressions changed, his bodyguards and goons came running over. One of them was pock-faced man with a scar on his face. He ran over and tried to push Sun Jian’s chest.

Suddenly, Sun Jian glared at him and shouted, “How dare you!”

When he was angry, his entire body was filled with an unpredictable, fierce energy that made people afraid by merely looking at him.
The pock-faced man’s hand immediately retreated.
But it really was not an easy job being a goon, if you have this job, then you would have to fight for other people. He rarely had any opportunity to fight for his master anymore, since Mao Wei’s powers increased from day to day during the past few years.
Hence, his life had also been very well the past few years. So, he really did not want to lose this job. He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and punched at Sun Jian’s chest.
Suddenly, Sun Jian hooked his wrist and twisted his arm backwards. Following that, he elbowed the man in the spine.
The pock-faced man’s face immediately distorted and he gave a pathetic scream. Yet the scream did not hide the sound of his bones breaking. His body was as soft as a pile of mud when he fell down.
Sun Jian also felt that he might have been too harsh, but he really did not want to waste any more efforts on this person.
When he was young, he learned this from a certain person – if you wanted to reach your goals fast, then you could not choose your method of doing things; the best method was to frighten your opponent with your first move.
As expected, none of the men who had ran over with the pock-faced man dared to strike again – having a job was important, but compared to your life, it was not as important.

Sun Jian did not even look at them, he stared at Mao Wei and asked, “Did you hear what I asked you?”

Mao Wei’s face flushed bright red, the veins popped up in his neck, “What does this have to do with you?”

Sun Jian’s hand suddenly waved out again, and his fist hit Mao Wei’s right hip.
This move was not a very fancy stance, it did not even contain any variations. Yet it was just too precise and too fast to give the opponent any opportunity to dodge or to defend.
Mao Wei’s scream was even more pathetic than that of the pock-faced man: he had not been beaten up for over ten years.

Sun Jian said, “This time, I didn’t hit your face, so you can still go out and meet people. The next time, I won’t be this nice.”

He watched Mao Wei rolling around on the floor, clutching his chest. Before he stopped, Sun Jian grabbed his collar, pulled him off the ground, and said, “Now, when I ask you something, you’ll have to answer. Do you understand?”

Mao Wei’s face was distorted from the pain and cold sweat was dripping off his body. He gritted his teeth and nodded.

Sun Jian asked again, “Are you still planning to continue fooling around with her?”

Mao Wei shook his head, and a deep shout came out of his throat, “That woman’s a b****, she’s a ****!”

When Sun Jian saw that angry and evil look in his eyes, he knew that Mao Wei would never contact that woman ever again, because he had already blamed all this suffering on her.
Most people in the world, whenever they were punished for their mistakes, would blame it on someone else, but would never take the blame themselves.

Sun Jian felt very satisfied and said, “Good. As long as you don’t mingle around with her, you can live longer for sure.”

Mao Wei secretly relaxed, thinking that the whole thing was coming to an end.

However, Sun Jian said, “But if she fools around with other men in the future, I will come to you again.”

Mao Wei was very astonished, and shouted, “That woman’s a natural ****! I can’t control her?”

Sun Jian stared into his eyes and said slowly, “I know that you can think of an idea for sure.”

For the first time, a smile appeared on Sun Jian’s face. He said, “Very good. Except that this “natural ****” would go steal men anytime, anywhere. Since you’ve already thought of an idea, then you should go finish it as soon as possible.”

Mai Wei replied, “I get it.”

Sun Jian’s fist suddenly hit straight outwards, and hit Mao Wei’s stomach.
Mao Wei’s entire body shrank down again, and vomited all the wine and food he had just eaten.

Sun Jian said with a smile on his face, “I’m not really beating you up, I’m just making sure that you’ll remember me.”

The fact that he said that he was not beating anyone up, yet he had made sure that the person would not be able to get up for at least half a month, really made you wonder whether to cry or to laugh. Yet others still had to listen to what he said.

Sun Jian walked over to the table and drank all the wine in the flask in one gulp. He frowned, “What an upstart. If you can’t even tell the difference between good wine and bad wine, then how can you know whether a woman’s good or bad?”

Suddenly, a smirk appeared on Mao Wei’s face, “Although Fang’s wife is a ****, she really can satisfy you.”

Sun Jian asked, “What about your women?”

Mao Wei’s expressions changed a bit, “None … none of them can compare with her.”

Sun Jian stared at him. All of a sudden, he laughed and shook his head, “I don’t believe what you say. You don’t even know your wines, then how can you know women?” Before he finished saying this sentence, he suddenly ran inside.

He had already seen that many women were hiding behind the curtain watching. He ran inside, picked out the best-looking one, pulled her outside, and hurled her onto his shoulders.
This woman was motionless – she fainted out of fear.

Mao Wei’s expressions changed, “What … what do you want to do?”

Sun Jian replied, “Nothing really. This is just something that you always do.”

He twisted Mao Wei’s hand, and yelled, “Now escort me out!”

He used Mao Wei as a shield, because he did not want to be ambushed on his way out. He was not afraid of anything; he just did not want any trouble.

There was nothing that Mao Wei could do except to escort him out. Tears almost poured out of his eyes, “If you let Feng Juan go, I’ll give you one thousand gold taels.”

Sun Jian blinked, “She’s really worth that much?”

Mao Wei gritted his teeth and refused to answer.

Sun Jian asked, “Do you really like her?”

Mao Wei still refused to answer.

Sun Jian laughed again, “Very good. Then next time, you should think of your own women first, before you think of other people’s wives.”

There was a tall horse outside the door – it was a winged steed.
The second Sun Jian came out, he jumped onto the horse and left, leaving behind nothing but a cloud of dust. He did not give others a chance for vengeance.
This is also something he learned from a certain person when he was young.
This person did not talk a lot, yet every sentence he said was hard to forget.
The horse had just run for five miles, when the woman on Sun Jian’s shoulder suddenly started to giggle.

Sun Jian said, “So you didn’t faint.”

Feng Juan said giggly, “Of course not. I wanted to come with you.”

Sun Jian asked, “Why?”

Feng Juan replied, “Because you are very masculine and manly. Besides, I think this is very exciting.”

Sun Jian asked, “Mao Wei isn’t good to you?”

Feng Juan laughed, “Although he’s rich, he’s a miser. If he wasn’t good to me, then why would he spend one thousand gold taels on me?”

Sun Jian nodded. He suddenly stopped talking.

Feng Juan said, “This is really uncomfortable. Can you put me down? I want to sit on your lap.”

Sun Jian shook his head.

Feng Juan sighed, “You are such a weird person.”

Sun Jian was whipping the horse to go faster.
In front of them was just wilderness, without a trace of human life.

Feng Juan was beginning to feel afraid, she could not help but ask, “Where are you going to take me?”

After a while, she suddenly said, “I know Fang’ wife, her name is Zhu Qing.”

Sun Jian said, “Oh.”

Feng Juan said, “She really is a natural ****, all she thinks about is sleeping with men. If she was to stop stealing men, then that’s even harder than to stop a dog from eating poop. I really don’t understand what kind of method Mao Wei can think of.”

Sun Jian commented, “Dead ****s can’t steal men.”

He suddenly loosened the hand with which he held Feng Juan. Immediately, Feng Juan fell off his shoulder and landed hard on the ground like a bag of flour.

She screamed, “What are you doing?”

Sun Jian’s horse sprinted away, and then came back. He sat on the saddle, looking at her coldly.

Feng Juan held out her hand, “Hurry and pull me onto the horse.”

Sun Jian said, “If I was to pull you up, then I won’t let you fall again.”

Feng Juan was trying to smile seductively, yet her fear made the muscles on her face harden. She angrily said, “You took me away, just so you can dump me off here?”

Sun Jian replied, “Yup.”

Feng Juan shouted, “What’s the meaning of this?”

Sun Jian laughed, and his horse sprinted away, leaving behind clouds of dust. He did not like to explain to others why he did things this way.
He especially did not like to explain to women.
Feng Juan gritted her teeth and cursed loudly. After she had said the most evil curses in the world, she suddenly fell to the ground crying.
She was not crying because all her bones were about to collapse from the pain, nor because she now had to walk home step by step. She was crying only because she knew that Mao Wei would never believe her – he would never believe that Sun Jian did not do anything to her.
If Sun Jian had done something, she would not have been sad at all.
There was this type of women in the world who would never know what was considered insult, and what was considered shame. She was this type of woman.
If others insulted her, she would have felt happy. On the contrary, if they did not insult her, she would have felt ashamed.
She would never understand Sun Jian’s reasons.
Sun Jian did this only to let Mao Wei know what it felt like to have his wife taken away.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Surely, LaoBo knew that to punish someone using this method was not very proper; yet he could not think of a better method.
Very few people could think of a better method.
Sun Jian was still riding on the horse, he could not help but laugh.
LaoBo did not give him any hints about how to deal with this matter. Yet he believed that even if LaoBo handled this himself, he would not have done it much better.
During the recent few years, Sun Jian had gradually learned the ways and techniques with which LaoBo handled things. He was very satisfied with himself.

Anyway, I'm sorry for the slow translations. I had to deal with some personal issues the last couple of weeks.

Anyway,

Chapter Three Continued ...

At dusk, LaoBo was still staying in the chrysanthemum garden, getting rid of pests and trimming the leaves for the chrysanthemums.
He liked doing things himself. This was his enjoyment, not his work.
He only put down the shear in his hand when he saw Wen Hu and Wen Bao walking in.
Greeting his subordinates was his work.
Work was work, enjoyment was enjoyment; he would never let these two things mix up.
He would never let anything mix up.
Wen Hu and Wen Bao were two keen-witted young men. However, their faces already had wrinkles due to the hard work, and it made them look much older than their actual ages.
Now, their faces showed signs of fatigue, meaning that they had been working very hard during the last couple of days. But as long as they could see LaoBo’s praising smile, it did not matter how hard the work was.

LaoBo was smiling, “You have finished your task?”

Wen Hu bowed, “Yes.”

LaoBo said, “Tell me about the process.”

Wen Hu said, “We first found out that Fortress Owner Xu had a daughter. Then, we thought of an idea to abduct her.”

LaoBo asked, “How old is hid daughter? Is she married?”

Wen Hu replied, “She’s twenty-one this year. She’s not married yet, because not only is she not very pretty, she is also well known for her bad temper. Apparently, she was engaged once, but she had beaten away her future father-in-law.”

LaoBo said, “Continue.”

Wen Hu said, “Then, we thought of a way to get to know the Jiang Brothers, got them drunk, and took them to Miss Xu.”

Wen Bao continued, “When these two blokes see women while they’re drunk, it’s like when flies see blood. They immediately started roughing around, no matter who that woman was.”

Wen Hu said, “When they finished. We went and gave them some punishments.”

Wen Hu stated, “We were very careful when we handled them. We avoided their forehead and hindbrain, so they definitely would not die. But they for sure won’t be able to get off the bed for at least three months.”

One of these two brothers practiced the Tiger Slaying Fist, and the other the Iron Sand Fist. Their martial arts was the same as all the other subordinates of LaoBo – it contained no tricks, it was just astonishingly fast.
As LaoBo said, one did not practice martial arts to perform to others, hence it did not have to look fancy.
If the Jiang Brothers were sober, perhaps they could exchange some blows with them. But when they were drunk, there was nothing that they could do besides getting beaten and howling in pain.

Wen Hu continued, “Then we rented a carriage and sent all these three people to Xu QingSong’s place.”

Their explanations were very short, very concise. They closed their mouths at once after they finished talking.
They knew that LaoBo did not like listening to a lot of talking.
LaoBo’s face was completely expressionless, even his smile disappeared.
Wen Hu and Wen Bao’s hearts began to sink. They knew that they had done something wrong.
If you did something wrong, you would be punished, no matter who you were. There was no exception.

After a long while, LaoBo asked deeply, “Do you know what you did wrong?”

Wen Hu and Wen Bao both dropped their heads.

LaoBo said, “To make the Jiang Brothers lie in bed for three months isn’t long. Xu QingSong treated things unfairly, so he deserved this kind of punishment. You have done well in this aspect.” His voice suddenly became very harsh, he sternly asked, “But what did Xu QingSong’s daughter do wrong, so that you had to torture her like that?”

Cold sweat ran from Wen Hu and Wen Bao’s forehead. They did not dare to raise their heads.
When LaoBo was angry, no one dared to look at him straightly.

After a long time, LaoBo’s anger calmed down a bit. He asked, “Who came up with this idea?”

Wen Hu and Wen Bao both replied, “Me.”

Looking at these two brothers, the anger in LaoBo’s eyes disappeared some more. He slowly said, “Wen Hu is more decent, he’d never think of an idea like this.”

LaoBo walked around with his hands behind his back, and suddenly stopped in front of him, “I know that you’re not married yet.”

Wen Bao replied, “Not yet.”

LaoBo said, “Good. Take my card at once and go to the Xu Fortress to seek marriage. Ask Miss Xu to marry you.”

Wen Bao looked as if someone had suddenly treaded on his foot, his face immediately turned clay-coloured, and he said quietly, “But … but ….”

LaoBo said sternly, “No ifs or buts. I’m telling you to go seek a marriage, and you’ll go seek a marriage. You ruined her entire life, so you have to take responsibility for that. So Miss Xu has a bad temper, then you just have to be more agreeable.”

If you did something wrong, you would be punished, no matter who you were. But perhaps only LaoBo could think of this type of punishment.

Of course Xu QingSong would not refuse. Now he was only worried that his daughter would never be engaged. Besides, Wen Bao was a very promising young man.
Wen Bao dared not to speak anymore, and walked out dejected.

After they walked out of the chrysanthemum garden, Wen Hu patted Wen Bao on the shoulder and smiled, “You don’t have to feel dejected. Besides, you should’ve been married a long time ago. After you get married, you’ll slowly discover that it isn’t that bad to have a wife – it even has a lot of benefits.”

Wen Bao went “Hmpf!” with his nose and muttered, “Benefits, benefits my a**!”

Wen Hu said, “As the saying goes, ‘It doesn’t matter whether you’re poor or rich, as long as you have a wife to spend New Year’s with.’ At least on cold winter nights, when you’re outside freezing cold, you can immediately go home and crawl under your wife’s warm blankets. She’d never kick you out.”

Wen Bao laughed coldly, “I can crawl under a lot of warm blankets now. I can even switch to a fresh, new warn blanket everyday.”

Wen Hu said, “But those warm blankets probably already have other men, and all you can do then is just stand aside and stare. But a wife’s different, only a wife would keep the blankets empty and wait for your return everyday.”

Wen Bao replied, “Even if you wanted to eat eggs everyday, you still didn’t have to keep a hen at home.”

Wen Hu laughed, “This analogy isn’t accurate. To be honest, getting married is like eating from a fixed menu.”

Wen Bao asked, “Eating from a fixed menu?”

Wen Hu responded, “If you want to, you can always go home and eat at anytime. But if you wanted to change to a different flavour, you can still hunt for something exotic outside.”

Wen Bao also laughed, but only a brief laughter. He immediately frowned again and sighed, “To be honest, I’m not really against getting married. It’s just that, if I marry a female tiger, how can I put up with that?”

Wen Hu said, “I also thought of a saying. Not sure if you’ve heard it.”

Wen Bao replied, “You tell me.”

Wen Hu said, “A woman is like the horse, and a man is like the jockey. If the jockey has skills, then no matter how tough the horse is, it’ll still become obedient in the end – if you wanted her to go east, she wouldn’t dare to turn west.”

He laughed and continued, “Originally, your sister-in-law’s temper was also bad. But now …”

Wen Bao asked, “Is her temper very good now?”

Wen Hu held his head up high and replied proudly, “Now I slowly made her realize who the head of the house is.”

He had just finished saying this, when a very tall and big woman walked out of the chrysanthemum bushes. Her eyes, which were bigger than peaches, glared at him and asked, “Then why don’t you tell us, who the head of the house is?”

At once, Wen Hu looked like a rooster who had lost a battle, and he said with a smile, “Of course it’s you.”

* * *

LaoBo raised his shears again. He discovered that many of the chrysanthemum bushes had an excess of leaves: excessive leaves not only hindered the beauty, but it also robbed the nutrition of the chrysanthemums flowers, and impeded its growth.
LaoBo did not like excessive things, just like the way he did not like excessive people.
The number of truly responsible people who worked for him was limited; yet all of them were very skilled, and they were also completely loyal to him.
As for this, he had always felt very satisfied.
He knew that no matte what he ordered them to do, they would complete their tasks perfectly. Hence, in the recent few years, he had rarely taken care of anything himself.
But this did not mean that he was not able to take care of things himself.
He was confident that he still had power to knock down anyone who wanted to invade him!
That day, when Yi Shi’s sword attacked him, in that split second, he had already saw three flaws in Yi Shi’s sword stances. Even if the others did not strike, he was still able to beat the opponent in the last minute.
He always waited until the last minute to strike, because at that instant, the opponent had already used up their latest energy and had not able to summon new energy yet. Also, they thought that their strike had already been successful, and hence would ease their cautions. When he counterattacked now, it would usually be a fatal strike.
Except that it was not very easy to be able to wait until that last minute – you not only needed extraordinary calmness and courage, but also many painful experiences.
He realized that although Lü XiangChuan was not his son, even Sun Jian could not compare with his loyalty and obedience. Recently, he had gradually praised this young man more and more, and had decided to give him one half of his enterprise.
Because only his calmness and intelligence can compensate for Sun Jian’s rash temper. The greater the enterprise was, the more it was needed for this type of person to maintain it.
Creation was different.
Creation needed people who were able to and dared to risk their lives.
LaoBo again, thought of that man in grey: of course he knew who this person is.
He never mentioned this matter, as if this person never appeared.
This person really had done a lot of things for him that others were not able to do. Yet if he kept him now, he would just make more trouble – because no matter what happened, he would always use violence to solve it. However, LaoBo had already learned meny methods that were more effective than killing. Now, he did not wat others’ lives, but their obedience and worship.
Because he had by now discovered that to take others’ lives really had no benefits for him.
But if he could receive others’ obedience and worship, then he would have endless benefits.
That man in grey would never understand this concept.
LaoBo sighed and was very displeased with the method he used that day. However, it was inevitable to have many untold secrets from creation; and he knew too many of the secrets.
If it was for someone else, they perhaps would have gotten rid of him a long time ago.
Yet LaoBo did not do so. This was also why he was different from the others. Although he sometimes did things unscrupulously, he really was a forthright, generous and broad-minded person.
No one can deny this.
Really how great was LaoBo’s enterprise? What type of enterprise was this?
Except for himself, no one else knew this secret.
Of course, you needed many people to maintain this enterprise.
Hence, LaoBo had always continuously absorbed new blood.
He suddenly remembered that plain-clothed, calmly-expressed young man who came to his birthday that day. He still remembered that this young man was called “Chen ZhiMing.”
He had a very good impression of this young man – he felt that with a bit of discipline, this young man could become an excellent help to him. Too bad this young man never resurfaced ever since that day.

“Perhaps I’m really getting old. I can’t take care of things as considerately as before. I can’t believe I forgot to ask him to stay that day.” LaoBo sighed again, and pounded his waist with his fist. Watching the beautiful sunset in the west suddenly gave him a sense of loneliness and desolation.
Recently, he often had this feeling. Thus, he placed all his hopes on the next generation.
Especially Lü XiangChuan.
Every time Lü XiangChuan left to do something, LaoBo had never worried that he might fail.
This time was different. This time, to one’s surprise, LaoBo was a bit nervous. Because he knew the strength of the “Twelve Flying Roc Sect.” Also because he knew Thousand Roc King’s abilities very well.
He was afraid that Lü XiangChuan would encounter danger.
But immediately, he also felt that he worried too much: Lü XiangChuan had always taken good care of himself. Even if he could not complete the task this time, he would still be able to retreat safe and sound.

“I’m afraid that worrying too much is a feeling that only older people will get.” LaoBo sighed, and slowly walked back to his room under the sunset. At this moment, he suddenly felt that it really was time for him to call it quits. Yet this feeling was usually like the epiphyllum – when the sun rose tomorrow morning, he would once again feel very ambitious.
There was one type of people in the world, who would never be beaten by anything – not even by “aging” and “death.”
Of course, there were not many people of this type; yet LaoBo was one of them without a doubt.

When he was sitting in the carriage, Lü XiangChuan was not thinking about his opponent – Thousand Roc King – but was thinking of that man in grey who killed people as if cutting grass.
He did not see the face of this man in grey even on the day of the conspiracy success between the martial arts chiefs; but had already had an idea of who he was. Yet he did ask LaoBo.
If LaoBo did not wish to tell something, then no one in this world could make him tell it. Since LaoBo refused to mention this person, then it was not even necessary for him to ask.
He only had an idea that this person had to be Han Tang.
Even he had never seen such fast, such cruel methods of killing.
No one had ever done what Han Tang did, and no one will ever be able to do so in the future.
In the recent few years, Lü XiangChuan’s status had gradually become more important, and his powers had gradually become greater – he could directly command many people. Yet no matter what ways he used, he still could not find out even a bit about Han Tang’s origins.
No one knew where this person used to be from, what he did, nor where he learned his martial arts.
Every person who had lived to his forties or fifties must have some sort of history; yet this person had none. It was as if this person had never existed in this world.

End Of Chapter Three

Chapter Four - Twelve Flying Rocs

This carriage was designed with special care. The entire compartment was a bed with a soft mattress. The shaking of the carriage was also at a minimum.
Sleeping inside the compartment was almost as comfortable as sleeping in your bed at home.
When Lü XiangChuan had to do something, he would get ready to do that with all his energy, and would never waste his efforts on other things.
Of course he also knew that this time, his task is very difficult.

“If a man falls into a coma for a woman and cannot pull himself out of it, then this man does not deserve to be thought of highly. Hence, you also need not to sympathize for him.”

“A man should be like a man – he should say what a man should say, and do what a man should do.”

These were some of LaoBo’s proverbs; others might find it strange why LaoBo would take such risks and offend someone like the Thousand Roc King for matter of this kind.
Only Lü XiangChuan understood LaoBo’s intentions.
Thousand Roc King had been LaoBo’s rival for a long time; if he had agreed to let the girl go this time, then it would show that he had bowed to LaoBo, and would soon become LaoBo’s friend.
Otherwise, he would be LaoBo’s enemy.

“I don’t know much about people. I only know that there are only two types of people in this world: one is my enemies, the other is my friends. You can choose whether you want to be my friend or my enemy, but there is no third choice.”

This was also one of LaoBo’s proverbs.
In fact, he did not give others a lot of opportunities to choose. Because no matter who wanted to be his enemy, they would have to die.
The problem now was that the Thousand Roc King was not easily scared, thus, his choice would probably be different from the others. If he chose the latter, then a blood battle would perhaps immediately commence; even if one triumphed in this battle, the price paid for it would definitely be very tragic.
Lü XiangChuan always did things carefully and thoroughly. He already had researched distinctly about the Thousand Roc King.
Thousand Roc King’s surname was not “Wan” nor “Wang.” Apparently, he was the illegitimate son of a person with a very high status in the martial world, but no one could prove that.

{NOTE: The mentioning of the Thousand Roc King’s last name is because in Chinese, Thousand Roc King is Wan PengWang, hence the “Wan” and “Wang.”}

Almost no one knew his history before he was seventeen. Lü XiangChuan only knew that at seventeen, he was the henchman of an armed escort company; half a year later he was promoted to be the head escort. When he was nineteen, he killed the owner of that armed escort company, and made the escort company his own.
However, one year later, he had sold the armed escort company, and became the local bounty hunter; in three years, he had captured twenty-nine notorious robbers. He executed eight of them, but let twenty-one of them go.
From then on, those twenty-one people adulated him. From then on, all of the outlaws in Jiang Hu knew that there was a bounty hunter in Jiang Nan with great martial arts and loyalty; it was almost comparable to the story from the Sui-Tang era of the gallant Qing Qiong (Qing ShuBao) selling his horse.

{NOTE: Qing Qun (Qing ShuBao) was a man from the Sui-Tang era. Legend goes that he owned a very precious horse worth a lot of money, yet when a friend of his fell ill and could not afford to go to a doctor, he sold that horse and gave the money to his friend. Hence, “Qing Qiong Mai Ma” (Qing Qiong Selling His Horse) was a phrase used in Chinese to describe one’s loyalty to his/her friends.}

At the age of twenty-four, he quit his job as a bounty hunter and began to organize the “Great Roc Sect.”
At the beginning, the “Great Roc Sect” only had two sub-helms, and only about a hundred members. After many years of struggling and having merged thirty other sects, he finally officially changed the name to the “Twelve Flying Roc Sect.”
Because he had a sub-forum in every one of the twelve main cities in Jiang Nan, and every sub-forum had four clans, each clan commanded several helms.
Now, the “Twelve Flying Roc Sect” was already the largest sect in Jiang Nan, even the very historical Beggar Association with the largest member count were cautious towards them.
A nameless henchman of a nameless armed escort company from back then was now the head dragon of this largest sect. The number of people he could directly command was over ten thousand.
He had so many properties that it was uncountable.
Back then no one listened to what he said; now everything he said was a command.
All these were not received through luck. Legend goes that there were over forty scars on his body, both large and small; even if a person’s martial arts was mediocre before, it would have become very frightening after all these life and death blood battles. Besides, he already was a very frightening person when he was seventeen.
Back then, out of the twenty-nine notorious robbers he had captured, over a half of them were top-notch martial artists in Jiang Hu, including Shaolin’s traitor “Evil Monk” Tie Dan, and the Yan Family Palms expert “Living Corpse” from Chen Zhou.
The story around Jiang Hu went that during the past few years, Thousand Roc King had received a secret martial arts manual left behind by the chivalrous Di LiangGong from Tian Shan; and had merged Di LiangGong’s “Seven Aves Technique,” which had won resounding fame throughout the country, into an unprecedented and unrepeatable palm technique called the “Forty-Nine Stances Of The Flying Roc,” which powers were indescribable.
Hence, no matter who it was, it was still difficult for him to defeat such a person.
Lü XiangChuan deeply understood the importance of the responsibilities of this task. Because whether or not the battle between LaoBo and Thousand Roc King could be avoided relied on whether the method he used to treat this matter was correct or not.
Until it was absolutely necessary, he would never want to see this conflict erupt.
He was afraid that the Thousand Roc King would refuse to see him. Hence, he got the “NanGong Playboy” NanGong Yuan, one of the four famous playboys in Jiang Hu, to introduce him especially for this occasion.

Ok, I found one version of the book that I'll sitck to and use for the translation. It has 34 chapters (hence the changes I made).

Here it is ...

Chapter Four Continued ...

NanGong Yuan was the last generation of the “NanGong Family;” he was a romantic man who was well versed in both literature and martial arts, and he was an expert in seeking pleasures. Even if there was one famed prostitute in Jiang Nan who did not know of the NanGong Playboy, she would not dare to admit that.
Because that was just too humiliating.
This kind of person obviously spends a lot of money. However, the “NanGong Family” had been degenerating lately – at least five out of ten silver taels that NanGong Yuan spent were “lent” to him by LaoBo.
Lü XiangChuan trusted that he would never wish to lose a friend like LaoBo.
He also happened to be a friend of the Thousand Roc King.
Thousand Roc King was like all other rich men, their interests are no longer fully on women after they turn forty; the more stable his status, the more extensive his interests.
Besides women, he also liked to gamble, he liked horses, and he liked to learn to become stylish; the one that required the most money was of course the last one. You not only needed to spend money to be stylish, you also needed to know how to spend money.
NanGong Yuan happened to be an expert at these.
Hence, Thousand Roc King really needed a friend like him.

The carriage stopped outside the maple forest.
A man was standing in the maple forest with his hands behind his back – his clothes white as snow, his stature tall and fair.
Beside him, underneath the tree, was a tea table, a zither, a bottle of wine, a lad clothed in black with angel sleeves, and a marvelous and excellent horse.
Although he still looked young from afar, in reality, he already had wrinkles in the corner of his eye.
Besides, his mature yet carefree demeanor was not easily imitated by anyone young.
Lü XiangChuan stepped off the carriage and walked towards him. He immediately stopped, having suddenly realized a depressed expression in NanGong Yuan’s eyes.

Lü XiangChuan said suddenly, “He turned down?”

NanGong Yuan softly sighed and said deeply, “He refused to see you.”

Lü XiangChuan asked, “You didn’t mention LaoBo?”

NanGong Yuan replied, “He said that him and LaoBo never had any contacts, and does not wish to have any contacts.”

Lü XiangChuan inquired, “You can’t make him change his mind?”

NanGong Yuan answered, “No one can make him change his mind.” Lü XiangChuan nodded and asked nothing more. In fact, he already knew that his question was useless.

If the Thousand Roc King was a man who often changed his mind, then he now perhaps would still be a henchman of an armed escort company, and could only find a woman on the day he received his salaries, while he was drunk.
Lü XiangChuan’s face was expressionless, a knot had already tied in his heart.
He did not know which method to use to untie this knot.
He knew that he was only allowed success in this affair, not defeat. Because the consequences of defeat was too great.

NanGong Yuan suddenly said, “The first of every month is the day Thousand Roc King purchased antiques and paintings.”

At once, a thread of hope appeared in Lü XiangChuan’s eyes, “Tomorrow is the first.”

NanGong Yuan nodded, and sighed deeply. He slowly said, “The time flies like an arrow, the sun and moon move like a shuttle. The black-haired lad, his head now white. Life’s but a dream, it ceases when the dream awakes. One’s busy all day, but for what?”

Lü XiangChuan smiled lightly; his smile contained some ridicule. He suddenly took a large envelope out of his pockets, and said, “Maybe for this.”

Looking at the envelope in his hand, NanGong Yuan also smiled. The ridicule was even richer in his smile, he slowly said, “The kind of person like me still deserves respect?”

All of a sudden, he turned around, went back under the tree, and stroked the zither.
The strings twang, the sound of the zither echoed.

NanGong Yuan sang loudly, “Life’s but a dream, it ceases when the dream awakes. One’s busy all day, but for what?”

The downhearted song, the sad zither; as the setting sun reflected off the maple forest, it suddenly seemed very bleak between heaven and earth.
Lü XiangChuan stood still – both his status and achievements were way higher than those of NanGong Yuan, yet he always felt as if something was amiss when compared to NanGong Yuan.
He was missing “the past.”
He possessed “the present” and “the future,” yet NanGong Yuan possessed “the past.” Only “the past” was something that no one could buy.
You could not buy it, no matter how much you spent.
Lü XiangChuan thought of the days of difficult struggles, and a rush of anger all of a sudden rose from his chest.

He walked over and put the envelope down, stared at NanGong Yuan, and said word for word, “My dream will never wake, because I never dreamed.”

NanGong Yuan did not look up, only lightly spoke, “But you should also know that everyone should sometimes dream a little, no?”

Lü XiangChuan knew.
His problem was that he did not dream. Hence, he was nervous, so nervous that he felt fatigue.
Yet he would rather it be like this.
Everyone had his own life styles; he chose the more complicated style.
The sound of the zither suddenly stopped.
He walked back to the carriage with vigorous strides. He gave a concise command, “The GuHua Hall.”

* * *

The first of the month.
Antique merchants from within three hundred miles all gathered at the bottom of the mountain, some even came from thousand miles away.
Because today was the day the Thousand Roc King purchased antiques – Thousand Roc King was without a doubt a great customer.
Theses antique merchants knew one another certainly well, there was only a silent, elegant young man who was unknown. People only heard rumours that he was the representative sent by the owner of “GuHua Hall.”
The white clouds were dimly discernible. The ancient fortress seemed to be so high above the clouds and impossible to reach. Suddenly, the sound of a bell tolled through the clouds, and everyone started walking up the mountain.

* * *

When Lü XiangChuan first saw the Thousand Roc King, he was really astonished.
Even he had never seen anyone like this!
The Thousand Roc King resembled a heavenly giant – when he sat down, his height was like others standing.
Some people say that those who are flourished in the limbs may be simple in their heads.
Thousand Roc King was definitely an exception.
His sight was sharp, calm yet steady, which showed his intelligence and unyieldingness. He also had incomparable self-confidence, which made no one dare to undermine his strengths.
His hands were wide, thick, and were always tightly clenched, as if he was always holding a beam of energy, prepared to readily take down any of his intruders. Everyone was very cautious when talking to him, yet he was too lazy to even look at others.
Until Lü XiangChuan walked over. A beam of light suddenly lit up in his eyes and stared at Lü XiangChuan like daggers. After a long time, he slowly asked, “You were sent by the “GuHua Hall?”

Lü XiangChuan replied, “No.”

He understood people like Thousand Roc King and he knew that it was best not to lie in front of this kind of people.

Because no matter how good the lies were, this kind of people would not be deceived. Thousand Roc King suddenly laughed aloud, “Very good. You’re a complicated person. Of course, the one who can order you around is even more complicated.”

His laughter suddenly ceased, he stared at Lü XiangChuan and asked word for word, “Is it LaoBo?”

Lü XiangChuan felt a sudden respect towards this man, and handed over the plate he held in his hands.
The plate was made out of jade from the Han Dynasty, on it was a cauldron from the Qin Dynasty.

Lü XiangChuan spoke, “These are respects from LaoBo to the Sect Leader. Hope the Sect Leader would kindly accept this.”

Often, when LaoBo sought for other’s help, he would first send an expensive gift to show his friendship. He preferred to take strong measures only after courteous ones fail.
However, this time, it was not LaoBo’s idea. The gifts were Lü XiangChuan’s own idea – he hoped that this matter could be resolved peacefully.
Although Thousand Roc King’s eyes were looking at the plate, really, he was deep in thought.

After a long time, he then slowly said, “I heard that Wu LaoDao wandered to Jiang Nan from outside of the borders, and settled down in Jiang Nan only thirty years ago.”

He lifted his head, stared at Lü XiangChuan, and asked, “The same with Sun YuBo, no?”

Lü XiangChuan replied, “LaoBo and Wu LaoDao were originally from the same village, and left the border at the same time.”

He knew that Thousand Roc King already saw through his intentions, hence, he did not need to hide anything.
He gradually realized that Thousand Roc King was more frightening than he imagined.

Thousand Roc King asked deeply, “He wanted you to come to plead for Wu LaoDao’s son?”

Lü XiangChuan responded, “LaoBo knew that Sect Leader would eventually just laugh off such relationships between young people. Besides, that girl is but a servant girl Sect Leader bought.”

Not only was his speech tactful and polite, it also very clearly analyzed the situation of this affair.
To offend LaoBo and make a big fuss just because of a servant girl was really not worth it.

However, Thousand Roc King’s face fell, “This is not a question of relationships between young people, but a rule of this sect. No one can break the rules of this sect!”

Lü XiangChuan’s heart fell. Already, he could see that this affair had little hope of success.
Yet he did not give up efforts until it was completely hopeless.

He wanted to explain the situation of this affair clearer, and tested, “LaoBo always liked to make friends. If Sect Leader could become friends with him, then everyone under the sky would be celebrating.”

Thousand Roc King did not respond. He suddenly got up and said, “You come with me!”

Lü XiangChuan could not guess where Thousand Roc King was taking him, nor what he would be doing there!
Even though he was in doubt, he was not afraid.
If Thousand Roc King wanted to kill him, then he probably would have been dead long ago.
Lü XiangChuan only discovered how majestic and huge the ancient fortress was after they left the hall. The ancient fortress’ hues had already turned into a light grey colour due to the age’s erosion, which made it look even older and more solemn.
There were no patrolling soldiers seen anywhere – the quietness made one think that this place was completely guardless.
Yet Lü XiangChuan of course would not feel this way. He understood the concept behind “something that has good quality does not have to look good on the outside.”
On the contrary, if this place was full of soldiers, he would look down on Thousand Roc King.
Of course, someone like Thousand Roc King would never show his real strengths easily.
The same with LaoBo.

“It is best to let your enemies undermine your own strength, otherwise it is best that you do not have enemies.”

Only a villager would carry all of his possessions with himself.

* * *

The hallway was dark and solemn.
At the end of the hallway was a door without a lock, as if the room inside was empty.
But if you opened the door, you would immediately know how horribly wrong you were.
Perhaps not even antiques and treasures in the imperial palace could compare with the ones hidden in this room.
Even a person like Lü XiangChuan could not help but feel dazzled here.

With his hands behind his back, Thousand Roc King lead him around and suddenly said, “Pick any two items you want, it’ll be my present back.”

Lü XiangChuan did not decline nor refuse. It was not only useless to refuse some people’s words, but seemed ridiculous to do so.
He really picked out two items.
He picked a jade pendant and a Persian dagger.
The value of these two items was almost exactly the same as the ones he gave out. This showed that not only did he have good taste, but also respected Thousand Roc King: he knew that he did not like to take advantage of others.

As expected, Thousand Roc King’s eyes showed praise, and said, “No matter when, if you broke off with Sun YuBo, you can come to me. I would never stifle you.”

Lü XiangChuan replied, “Thank you very much.”

To be valued by someone like the Thousand Roc King, Lü XiangChuan could not help but feel a bit proud.
Yet his heart also felt frozen.
Because he knew that this affair was now completely hopeless, Thousand Roc King would never give him more chance for negotiation.
They walked back from another way, through the outer yard. The sound of horses neighing could suddenly be heard.

The steps of Thousand Roc King stopped. He asked, “Do you want to see my horses?”

For the first time, Lü XiangChuan saw real joy from his eyes, and immediately knew that this invitation had no other purposes.
This was like a host calling his smart son or daughter out to meet the guests – so that the guests would say a couple of words of praise.
Praising others was something Lü XiangChuan would always like to do.
Because once you did this, it not only made others happy, but also had benefits for oneself. Only fools would refuse, even though as of right now he still did not know where the benefits lied.
The stalls were long yet tidy, almost every single horse was a top-notch winged steed.
Yet the value of all the horses combined could not compare to perhaps the last one.
This horse occupied a single stall. It’s fur was shiny and smooth like silk. Although it was a horse, it had indescribable elegance and pride as if it was ready to be compared to human.

Lü XiangChuan at once praised, “Nice horse, is it the Red-Sweat Breed from DaYuan?”

Thousand Roc King laughed, “You have good taste.”

His laughter was not only happy, but also proud: this was also seen for the first time on his face. Even when he was inside the room with treasures piled mountain-high, he did not show this kind of expression.
Suddenly, a thread of hope surfaced within Lü XiangChuan’s heart.
He had already thought of an idea that could perhaps make Thousand Roc King feel down.
Although he still did not know whether this idea was doable, yet no matter what, he had to at least try it.
No matter whether this idea was doable or not, the consequence was going to be equal all the same.

Late night.
This street was originally the liveliest one in the city, but now every store had put out the lights and closed the store for the night. There was almost not a single flicker of light to be seen, and not a sound to be heard on the street.
Wu LaoDao had accompanied Lü XiangChuan here, but did not know why they were here.
He also dared not to ask.
Although Lü XiangChuan was young, although his attitude was very polite, yet a sophisticated man like Wu LaoDao could already tell that this man had a type of quality that was different from other young men. Even though he was not as powerful as LaoBo when he was young, he was more concealed and more unpredictable: his achievements later on would definitely not be less than those of LaoBo.
Wu LaoDao wished to become friends with this young man, hence, he was very respectful to him.
The grandest restaurant on this street was called the “Eight Immortals Restaurant.” Now every window was pitch-black – obviously the waiters of this restaurant were already sound asleep. Yet Lü XiangChuan went ahead and pushed the door open. The door was not locked, and the restaurant was brightly lit. It was just that every window was covered with thick, black cloth, hence, one could not see a flicker of light from the outside.
There were already forty or fifty people here waiting. From their clothing, it was obvious that the statuses of these people were very different – yet they all had one thing in common.
Everyone’s expressions were very calm. Their hands were rough and strong. Although they obviously did not know one another, yet when they saw Lü XiangChuan, everyone stood up and bowed.
At that moment, Wu LaoDao suddenly realized that LaoBo’s powers were more terrifying than he had imagined.
He definitely did not see Lü XiangChuan gather anyone, yet these people all came. He had lived in this city for over twenty years, yet he did not know where all these people came from.
The most clever thing was that the manager of “Eight Immortals Restaurant,” Shé BaiLe, was also among these people, and was the first to walk out and welcome Lü XiangChuan.
Wu LaoDao had been friends with him for over twenty year, but never knew that he had any contacts with LaoBo, and was actually LaoBo’s subordinate.
Lü XiangChuan treated him with a modest and gentle attitude, mixed with three parts of respect, just like the way a wise emperor treated his successful officials.

Shé BaiLe bowed, “Except for those who had tasks in other places, most people already arrived. Please give the orders!”

Lü XiangChuan nodded with a smile, and opened both of his hands and spoke, “Everyone please sit down. LaoBo told me to wish you everything well.”

Everyone bowed, “We are not worth it … all of us subordinates constantly think of LaoBo. Is the Elder still well and healthy?”

Lü XiangChuan laughed, “The Elder is made of iron. Everyone is his friend, and should know better than I do, that even if the god of plague would flee if he saw him!”

Everyone laughed.
Just a while ago, everyone felt nervous and anxious, but now all that was completely erased.

Lü XiangChuan said, “Today is the first time I’m meeting with you all. I should really offer a cup of wine to each one of you, but I’m also afraid that that might hurt Manager Shé.” Everyone laughed again.
After the laughter ceased, Lü XiangChuan suddenly changed to a serious expression, and continued to say, “Besides, I’m not going to hide from everyone that this time I came here with a heavy load on my shoulders. If this affair cannot be resolved, then I do not have the face to go back and see LaoBo. Everyone please think, how can I have the mood to drink wine?”

Someone then said, “If Mr. Lü have any problems, no matter whether you need people or money, please just give orders.”

Lü XiangChuan said, “Thank you very much.”
He waited until everyone’s attention was focused, and only then continued to say, “Now I only want to focus on one thing, and that is the stall of the Head of the “Twelve Flying Roc Sect!”

* * *

It was even later into the night, Wu LaoDao and Lü XiangChuan were on their way back.
Now his respect for this young man was even greater. He carefully listened when Lü XiangChuan was talking. He discovered that the linguistic skills of this young man was not only more clever than some sophisticated people, but also had a special charisma, which was great enough to make people who had only met him for the first time want to get close to him. Yet getting close to him did not damage his powers in any way.
From many personal experiences, Wu LaoDao knew deeply how hard it was for a person to gain others’ respect and love.
What touched Wu LaoDao the most was that, although Lü XiangChuan hurried to establish his own popularity and status among a group of people, he never forgot to put LaoBo higher than himself.

Lü XiangChuan suddenly turned around and asked him, “Do you have some things you’d like to ask me?”

Wu LaoDao hesitated, he was more cautious when speaking to this young man.

Finally he asked, “Do you really want that horse?”

Lü XiangChuan replied, “LaoBo never lied to anyone in his entire life. I wish to follow the Elder with all my heart. I cannot compare to him in many other areas, but at least this I could do.”

Wu LaoDao secretly gave thumbs up, waited for a while, and only then tested, “That Ancient Thousand Roc Fortress is heavily guarded. To be able to steal a lively horse from there will probably not be easy – even if there are LaoBo’s friends among the horse keepers, it still won’t be easy.”

Lü XiangChuan replied, “Not only not easy, but almost completely impossible.”
He suddenly laughed, “But I never said to bring the horse alive.”

Wu LaoDao was in a daze, his expressions changed, “Are you saying to bring the horse no matter if it is alive or dead?”

Lü XiangChuan said, “Exactly my idea.”

Wu LaoDao took a deep breath, “The horse is more important than anything to Thousand Roc King. If you killed it, then the consequences would probably be very severe.”

Lü XiangChuan said, “You know that LaoBo never likes to be rejected by someone, this time he especially told me that as long as we can get Thousand Roc King to release you son’s lover, there was no need to take into consideration any consequences.”
He patted Wu LaoDao’s shoulders, and said again, “Although LaoBo has many friends, but there aren’t many who grew up together with him. He’d rather sacrifice everything than to let you feel hurt and disappointed.”

Suddenly, Wu LaoDao felt a warm feeling rushing up his chest, his throat felt stuffed, and he forced to control himself, “LaoBo would go to war with the “Twelve Flying Roc Sect,” just for me?”

Lü XiangChuan lightly said, “We are already prepared for that.” Although he said it with ease, but Wu LaoDao deeply knew the strengths of the “Twelve Flying Roc Sect,” and definitely knew the cost of everything to be sacrificed, and how horrid it would be.

When he thought that his old friend would sacrifice so much for him, he could not help but shed hot tears.

Lü XiangChuan said, “Of course, I also don’t wish for this war to happen. That is why I decided to do so.”

Wu LaDao wiped his nose, he wanted to say something, but could not.

Lü XiangChuan said, “I only hope that this action will scare Thousand Roc King, and make him nicely release that girl.”

Wu LaoDao nodded, his heart filled with thankfulness.

Lü XiangChuan said, “I chose that horse, because until it is absolutely necessary, we do not wish to kill a human being. Besides, I know that if someone found out that their most treasured thing had been destroyed, they’d feel deeply frightened in addition to sadness and anger.”

Wu LaoDao dropped his head. The weight on his heart made him not able to lift his head.
He wished that he never told LaoBo about this affair.
But he obviously would never know, that even without this affair, this war would happen sooner or later!

* * *

Every morning, when Thousand Roc King just woke up, he was always in a very irritable mood. Hence, all his accompanying maidens secretly left the room when they found the chance to.
His mood only gradually calmed down after he had finished eating breakfast.
Like his other features, his appetite was equally astonishing. His breakfast normally consisted of a large pot of well-boiled soup made of old hen, winter mushrooms, and ham, plus ten eggs and twenty fried buns. When other people saw his breakfast, they would usually be frightened.
Today was different. When Thousand Roc King lifted the lid of the pot, his face suddenly turned green.
Inside the pot were no winter mushrooms, no ham, and also no hen.
Inside the pot was only a horse head, a bloody horse head.
Thousand Roc King knew this horse head.
His stomach immediately jerked and contracted, as if his stomach had just been punched very hardly.
Then came a fire of anger fiery enough to set everything ablaze. He almost could not control but jump up from the bed, run out, and strangle the first person he saw. And strangle everyone in the stall, and ten times strangle the one who brought this pot!
But surprisingly, he actually restrained. He often would throw a tantrum over something as insignificant as a sesame seed or pea, and would often fury and even kill someone.
Yet when he came by a major event, he could stay calm.
He knew that only his anger could destroy him.
He also knew who did this.
He had long ago predicted LaoBo’s every action, yet he never thought that the action would be this speedy.
That was precisely what Lü XiangChuan wanted: to be unpredictable to him.

“If you want to defeat someone, yet could not seize the first opportunity to do so, then your only chance is to wait until your opponent lets down his guard. Except that it was nearly impossible for anyone to wait that long.”

This was also LaoBo’s proverb, and Lü XiangChuan never forgot it. He seized the first opportunity, because he knew that at this time the opponent had not yet been protected.
No one dared to stay in the room while Thousand Roc King ate his breakfast.
He did not like others to see him gorging.
Fortunately there was no one else in the room, hence, he could quietly think.
LaoBo really was a frightening enemy, ten times more terrifying than he had imagined. How many more people like Lü XiangChuan worked for him?
Thousand Roc King anxiously closed the lid of the pot, his face was completely expressionless when he went outside, his order consisted of only one sentence, “Immediately send DaiDai to Wu LaoDao’s armed escort company!”

* * *

Meng XingHun was lying on the wooden bed in the inn, he had been lying for seven or eight hours.
He neither ate, nor moved, nor slept.
Now, there were still ninety-one days until the deadline Gao LaoDa gave him.
The information he knew about LaoBo was still the same as twenty-nine days ago.
He knew that LaoBo was a very special person, but knew almost nothing in addition.
Where did he learn his martial arts from? Was it good or bad?
Meng XingHun did not know.
That day LaoBo did not even lift one finger. That exceptional calmness was exactly the thing that Meng XingHun found frightening.

“What kind of experts worked for LaoBo? How many are there?”

Meng XingHun did not know.
All he saw that day, was that graceful young man with secret weapons all over his body, and the fiery yet loyal Sun Jian.
He knew that these two people were out of town, but were there anyone else like that who worked for LaoBo’s side?
What about that man in grey?
Although Meng XingHun was an expert in killing, he was still shocked by this person’s cruel, precise, and fast killing method.
He also researched this person’s movements.
Yet, if not even Lü XiangChuan could find out anything, then how could he?

“What were LaoBo’s daily habits like? Where does he go normally?”

Meng XingHun did not know.
He not even knew where LaoBo actually lived. In that yard were at least seventeen single houses, which one did LaoBo live in? Besides, this was not the only garden that LaoBo owned – beside the chrysanthemum garden was a plum garden, and there were then peonies, roses, herbaceous peonies, camellia, and even a bamboo garden.
All the gardens were close together, and no one knew how much land they took. They only knew that if someone was to walk very fast, he still would not be able to walk once around the land in one day.
What worried Meng XingHun the most was that, ever since that day, he had never seen LaoBo again.
This person was like an emperor from the ancient times who never took one step outside of his land.
Were there ambushes in the gardens? How many ambushes were there? Meng XingHun did not know.
He dared not to casually take just one step into LaoBo’s land.
He dared not to act rashly!

* * *
Meng XingHun only got out of bed after the night fell, and went out to eat his first and also last meal of the day.
His meal was very simple, because if a person was too full, his mind may be slow.
In the recent few years, he had become a mix of several different animals: he was nocturnal like the bat, good at tracing like the hunting dog, precise as a preying falcon, cruel as a wolf, fast as a hare, could endure humiliations like a turtle, and could even regurgitate like the camel or the ox.
Once he ate this meal, he could often support for a long time.
This inn he chose was neither too big nor too small, the business was neither good nor bad.
No matter what he did, he always chose the middle or average, because he did not want to attract others’ attention.
Sideways across this inn was however an extravagant restaurant.
Just now, a group of people walked out of the restaurant laughing. There were men and women, mostly young, happy people. One could tell from their clothing that they were from rich families. Meng XingHun admired them.
He was different from Lü XiangChuan – although he admired people, he was not jealous, and felt neither sad nor angry towards his miserable past.
The laughter was very loud, and so was the sound of speaking.

“Who drank the most wine today?”

“Of course it was Xiao Die.”

Xiao Die was a girl who wore a bright red cape. Just now another young man ran back inside the restaurant and came out carrying a cup of wine, and brought it in front of Xiao Die.

“Xiao Die, if you can still finish this cup of wine, then I’d really be impressed.”

Xiao Die did not speak, nor refused.
She only smiled, took the wine cup, and immediately finished it.
There were not many girls with such a high tolerance. Meng XingHun was also a drinker, hence he could not help but look at her a bit more.
He suddenly realized that this girl was very special.
She was very beautiful, too beautiful. Beautiful girls usually knew how beautiful they are.
And they would never forget to remind people of this fact.
Yet this girl was different.
It seemed as if she did not care a bit whether she was beautiful or ugly. She was in a group of people, and also smiled. Yet her smile was also completely different from other people.
Although there were so many people around her, she seemed to be completely alone. No matter how many people she was with, she still seemed to be standing alone in the cold, deserted wilderness.
The horses have been lead over, the carriages drove over. The other ones left with their partners, the only ones left were Xiao Die and a young man wearing a black cape.
This young man was very tall, very handsome. His sword sheath was flashing from underneath his cape.
This kind of young man was suited to be the knight in shining armour for a girl like Xiao Die.
And there was still the most extravagant carriage waiting at the side of the road.

The young man wearing black cape said, “We should also get on the carriage!”

Xiao Die shook her head.

The young man wearing black cape said, “You still want to drink wine?”

Xiao Die shook her head again.

The young man wearing black cape laughed, and said, “Then, do you want to stand here overnight?”

Xiao Die still shook her head, softly said, “I just want to walk a little.”

The young man wearing black cape said, “Ok, I’ll walk with you.” Evidently, their relationship was very close. He was still young, still was not afraid that others may not find this pleasing to the eye.
He did not care about others’ opinions.
Hence, he took her hand.

{NOTE: The above paragraph may or may not make sense to some. When I first read it, I was a bit lost, but I’m guessing it has to do with the culture back then, how young people publicly displaying their love may not have been suitable.}

Xiao Die did not toss his hand away, only softly said, “I want to walk a bit by myself, ok?”

The young man wearing black cape was dazzled, finally slowly let go of her hand, and said, “Can I come to you again tomorrow?”

The young man wearing black cape laughed again, and replied, “I’ll go to you first thing tomorrow morning. You wait for me.”

Xiao Die did not speak again, and slowly walked ahead. Although her walk was slow, she still slowly disappeared into the darkness. The night was very dark.
Young girls were afraid of the dark, yet she did not care at all.

* * *

Meng XingHun of course did not know Xiao Die, nor did he know this young man wearing black cape.
The relationship between the two had nothing to do with him, he even thought that the two were quite a match.
Yet for some reason, when he heard that Xiao Die wanted to walk alone, when he saw her ditching that young man at the side of the road, he felt very happy inside.
That young man wearing black cape was still staring dazed at the direction, which her shadow disappeared into. After a long, long time, he suddenly rushed into this inn and yelled, “Manager, give my a bottle of wine, a large bottle.”

Meng XingHun himself also sometimes used wine to chase away sorrow. Yet for some reason, he only found this young man to be very stupid, very ridiculous.
Very soon, there was only half a bottle of wine left.

This young man suddenly waved to Meng XingHun, and said, “It’s really boring to drink alone. Can you drink a cup with me, ok? My invitation.”

Meng XingHun said, “I don’t drink.”

The young man asked, “Never drink?”

Meng XingHun did not answer. He did not want to lie, but did not want to tell the truth either.

The young man suddenly took a long sigh, and laughed bitterly and said, “If you saw a girl like that, you would drink too.”

Meng XingHun said, “Oh?”

The young man replied, “The girl I’m talking about is the one wearing a red cape just now. Did you see?”

Meng XingHun replied, “There were a lot of girls just now.”

The young man responded, “But she’s different from the other people. Sometimes she’s more passionate to me than warm fire, sometimes colder than ice.”

He suddenly slammed the table hardly, and shouted, “If you met such a woman, what do you think I should do?”

Meng XingHun said, “Lots of thing you could do, the best is just to find another one.”

He did not want to continue discussing, but knew that if he did not leave, this discussion would not have an end.
He left. When he was walking out the door of the inn, he could still hear the young man mutter, “Xiao Die, Xiao Die, are you really good to me? Or not good? Why do you always make it hard for me …?”